Page 14 of Cabin Fever

Chapter Six

The elevator dings a second time, the doors sliding open on an empty car, and neither of us moves. Finn's still holding my hands. His thumbs are pressed against my knuckles like he's about to start a thumb war, and up close, there's none of that schmoozy act on his face at all.

No smirk. No dimple deployment. Just Finn.

I pull my hands back because my palms are starting to sweat. “The laptop.”

He blinks. “What?”

“The slideshow ran off the AV guy's laptop. If somebody added those photos, there's a file. It would have a timestamp, right?” I'm already moving, swiping at my eyes with the back of my wrist, heels clicking down the hallway. “He’s probably still packing up.”

Finn catches up in three strides. “So we're investigating.”

“I'm investigating. You're tall and know how to manipulate people into doing what you want.”

“That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.”

The ballroom is deep into cake when we slip back in. The band has recovered, and it seems as though the rest of the wedding party has collectively agreed to pretend nothing happened.

I hunch over, as if that’s going to protect me from view with Finn strutting through the room next to me. We find the AV guy, Devon, if his nametag is to be believed, and I open my mouth to launch in.

Before I can speak, Finn steps ahead of me, the easy grin sliding into place. “Devon. Hey, man. Rough one, huh? Not your fault.”

He drops his hand on Devon's shoulder like they've been friends for a decade. In ninety seconds, Finn has the laptop open, and Devon is leaning over it, eager to prove his innocence.

“There.” Devon points. “That's the presentation file. I loaded it Tuesday from the flash drive Mr. Gallagher provided.

“That’s me.” Finn flashes a smile.

“Oh, well. Nice to meet you.” Did he look flustered? Devon cleared his throat. “Haven't touched it since. Until I pulled it up just now.”

“Show me the slideshow file history,” I say.

He clicks, and there it is. Modified: Today, 4:40 PM. Devon angles the screen, scrolling through thumbnails, and my stomach drops.

Mom's lace. Dad's tux. The cake. The church steps. And in the middle of them, the girl in the green dress laughing up at Theo, all of it sitting there like a splinter under a fingernail.

If I had any doubt that Finn was involved, the timestamp put that to rest. At 4:40 this afternoon, Finn Gallagher was standing in a service corridor with his arms full of welcome-bag boxes, complaining that the ship should provide dollies. He was with me from four o'clock on. I never lost sight of him for longer than it took to find the tape.

I should feel relieved. What I feel is the floor moving, and not from the waves. Because if it wasn't Finn, then someone else purposefully edited this presentation while I was taping table numbers and slid our family's worst year into my sister's happiest one. Who would do that? And why?

“Who would have access to these photos?” I wonder aloud.

Finn shrugs. “Family. Friends. People from home.” He runs a hand over the back of his neck. “You know who the girl in the green dress is?”

“No. Do you?”

Devon steps away from the laptop to finish packing up the rest of the AV supplies. From the back of the room, we watch the servers passing out the remaining dessert. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like our presence has made too much of a ripple.

Finn lowers his voice. “Elise. Theo's girlfriend, freshman year into sophomore. I don’t know who would have that photo except her and Theo.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Is she mad he’s getting married?”

“I doubt she’s thrilled, but she’s not the kind of person who would do this. It’s been years.”

I nod. It’s weird to think about Theo and Finn having a whole life that Dahlia and I weren’t a part of. Even stranger to realize it’s going to continue on without me the moment we leave this ship.

I’m taken back to that moment in the grocery store with Finn. It’s so easy for me to ignore the feelings I still have for him, good and bad, when he’s not standing in front of me. Is this how it’s always going to be? Theo and Dahlia are getting married, so as long as Finn and Theo remain friends, he’s going to be around. What if he shows up with a woman in a green dress? What if I bring home a boyfriend? Will my insides still tie in knots the second he walks in the room?